The invention relates to a part sorting and aligning apparatus.
Machines are commercially available which extract parts from a pile and place them in a row for further processing. For elongated parts with heads and stems, such as engine valves or bolts, separating conveyors are commercially available from Spectrum Automation Company, and step feeders are available from companies such as Koeberlein. But, after the parts are separated, the parts must be oriented and aligned prior to further processing or machining. Typically, this is accomplished by placing the valves into a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d channel and vibrating them until they fall into a correct orientation for movement onto a conveyor. Valves which are not correctly aligned fall back into the original pile for later pickup. Currently, parts, such as engine valves, are separated using a vibratory separator. But, the use of a vibratory separators increases maintenance expenses, and increases set up expenses because minor changes in part characteristics requires a new vibratory machine set up. Also, many parts which do not fall back into the machine have to be manually picked up from around the machine.
A prong sorting apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,119, issued Aug. 29, 1961 to Winberg. The ""119 apparatus includes a tilted rotary hopper with a flat bottom disk or wheel surrounded by a skirt. A plurality of pegs are arranged on the bottom. The pegs engage and pick up prongs from a hopper positioned adjacent to the hopper. A single rail pick-off or transfer member receives successive prongs from the pegs for transporting the pegs to another location. The pegs and the transfer member of the ""119 apparatus are not capable of picking up or transferring elongated parts with heads and stems, such as engine valves. It would be desirable to have a part sorting and aligning apparatus which can pick up and align engine valves and which does not require a vibratory machine.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a part sorting and aligning apparatus which can pick up and align elongated parts with heads and stems, such as engine valves.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a part sorting and aligning apparatus which does not require a vibratory machine.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention, which comprises a part sorting and aligning apparatus which can pick up and align elongated parts with heads and stems, such as engine valves. The part sorting and aligning apparatus includes a tilted rotary wheel positioned adjacent a supply of valves. The wheel is rotated by a motor acting through a speed reducer. Part pickup members are pivotally mounted on the wheel via bearings, and include a weighted bar so that gravity maintains the pickup members and the valves in a desired orientation as the wheel rotates. The pickup members are arranged in a plurality of arrays which are spaced apart and evenly distributed over the outer portion of the wheel. Pairs of pick-off rails are positioned to pick the valves off of each pickup member of each array so that the valves slide down the rails and away from the wheel.